Noise

This is a noisy world. Noise everywhere. This constant cacophony makes it very hard to listen. Who can hear the soft, quiet voice of the Lord inside with the ruckus going on around us? The Lord would have to shout to make himself heard. He could do this, He can do anything. But that is not his usual way. That is why prayer is so important. Prayer is conversation with God. And the Author of Life stoops down to listen. Amazing.... when you pause to think about it. The thing is: We can't do all the talking. We have to listen, too. God speaks in all of us but we need to be silent sometimes so that we can hear Him more clearly.

" But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you." Mt. 6:6

Even our minds can be noisy and cluttered with many unnecessary things. Through the grace of God we can change these thought patterns. Especially the negative ones. Certain thoughts may come into our heads but we can learn to let them go. Dwell on the Lord instead and soon there won't be room for these other things.

" Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." Rom.12:2

Through the eyes of a child

Last night I babysat my niece and nephew. I asked my niece if she would like to do a post on my blog. She said yes. Her 1st post is about Jesus:

God made everything. He is in Heaven and in our hearts. He sent his son to the earth through Mary. Jesus - obviously he's nice cause he's never mean. He healed lots of people and no matter what he was never afraid. Even if the person had that really bad disease. ("What was that really bad disease called, Aunty Mary?") Yeah, leprosy. He healed anybody who asked him. Jesus doesn't like sin but He forgives easily.

Bad men arrested Jesus. They put Him in a room and took a spiked whip thingy and beat Him with it. He was screaming in pain. Carrying the cross hurt Him very badly. They whipped Him to go faster. The cross was really heavy.

The men laid the cross down and made Him lie on it. His feet were crossed in front of each other and they nailed his feet then his hands.They stood the cross up between two others. One was a thief but he was very, very sorry for what he had done. He went straight to heaven.

Jesus was thirsty. They tried to make Him drink something. Mother Mary was there. Do you have to watch your son getting whipped and nailed to a cross! She was sad and broken-hearted. Mary and another woman were sobbing into their hands. Jesus died.

After that, He got carried and they put a cloth over Him and put Him in a tomb. On the third day He rose. He died to save us from sins so we could go to heaven.

The Enemy at the Gates

I am going to be blunt and straightforward. America, we are in trouble. If we do not turn back, there will be a "correction". Over the past couple years this inner "warning" continues to grow. We can see its outward signs, also. People often think that the Old Testament holds little relevance to our world today. Wrong! History continues to repeat itself. If we would pay attention, we could look back and see what history is teaching, instead. You would think we would have learned this lesson by now. Instead, sin continues to snowball and is gaining speed during its downward roll. God, in his mercy will step in. If He doesn't, too many will be lost .



Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel, for the Lord has a grievance against the inhabitants of the land:
There is no fidelity, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land.
False swearing, lying, murder, stealing and adultery!
in their lawlessness, bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Therefore the land mourns,
and everything that dwells in it languishes:
The beasts of the field,
the birds of the air,
and even the fish of the sea perish.


Hosea 4:1-3


Thus says the Lord:
Stand beside the earliest roads,
ask the pathways of old
Which is the way to good, and walk it;
thus you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, "We will not walk it." Jer. 6:16
Utterly Thine, O Lord!

In Him

"Walk in the light of my truth." This was a "word" given to me when I started blogging. Truth can be hard to come by in our days. People tend to live according to what their perception of the truth is and this can change daily. We are a wishy-washy country. The Lord did not ask me to walk in the light of my own truth but in His.



I look at our government - truth is not there.

I look at the press - truth is not there.

I look at our financial institutions - truth is not there.



The list goes on and on. Total truth can be found in one place only....IN HIM. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. [John 14:6]

YES, O LORD. YOU ARE.

One Thing Only

There is a certain flaw that is so prevalent in our society that I don't quite know what to call it. For lack of a better term, I am going to call it the spirit of rushing. This spirit is constantly pushing us to: DO MORE! DO MORE! It leaves us frazzled and overwhelmed. It keeps our minds on little things and off the important thing - Our God. It gives us stomache aches and headaches. We feel stressed.

When we feel this inner pressure, we have no peace. This in itself is a sign from the Lord to back off. The Lord can do his best work in us when we are quiet; quiet on the inside as well as the outside. Yes, most of us have to work and we have many responsibilities. I am not talking about our daily duties. Years ago people also had these duties and yet this spirit of rushing was almost non-existant. The cure for this is to let go and let God. Simplify. Many things in are lives are unnecessary and only add to our inner burden. The Lord does't wish this for us. If we put God first, other things will fall into place. I am going to end this with a familiar Bible quote that says it all:

Dependence on God
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they? Can any of you add a single moment to your life-span?" Mt 6:25-27

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil." Mt : 33-34

Nice?

You know what? In our world being "nice" can be a problem. Being nice can be a catch-all phrase in our society. People used to say to me, "You are so nice." A girl I once worked with as a teenager said, "Mary, I can't picture you yelling." I had to laugh at this one! The truth was: I was not nice...not at all. This niceness was a surface quality only. This facade hid a multitude of sins. It also kept me from seeing them. People thought I was nice...so therefore I must be okay. I was not okay and many others in our world are not okay. The Lord certainly cured me of this misconception about myself!

There is a great rift between niceness and holiness. We aren't called to niceness; we are called to holiness. Jesus was not always "nice". Think of Him driving the money changers out of the Temple. But, he was holy. Truth is not always nice. Niceness can be a false face that someone shows the world. We live in an upside down society these days. Pro-lifers are often looked upon as evil because they are not "nice" enough to allow people the freedom of choice. But the very people who are saying this believe that it is fine to take the life of a baby. They call themselves pro-choice. This is a misnomer because the baby certainly isn't given a choice. The title pro-choice is simply a "nice" name in a politically correct world. This "nice" name covers a major sin.
This sin is called murder.

Beloved

" They will look upon him whom they have pierced." John 19:37



The Beautiful Gate


The Cross beckoned
"Come to me, all who are sorrowful and suffering."
I crawled beneath, gazed at thy Beautiful Face;
the tangled blood-clotted waves of thy hair
streaming in the bitter wind
I peered into eyes filled with love and pain
Like a beacon in the night they rested upon me
Bloody tears rained their sorrow upon this proud head
I kneeled beneath Thy pierced side
Blood and water poured down on me
I drowned in a sea of Mercy
The veil in the Temple split in two
And I, crippled
Entered the Gate
Called....
The Beautiful

Conversion

A couple of people have asked how my conversion began. For ease, so they don't have to search the archives, it began here http://openingthefloodgatesofmercy.blogspot.com/2009/06/heart-of-jesus-infinite-in-mercy.html

Annie Bananie-This One's For You

I went to a wake today. My friend Ann's father passed away. She is one of my dearest friends and the Lord has tucked her tightly into my heart. She doesn't see herself as I see her... I wish she could. We were talking in the parking lot and Ann said, "Oh, Mary, pray for me. I'm going to hell because all I ever think about is Ann." (She was under tremendous stress and she was also ill. I felt so much sorrow at her words. This is not true. She pours herself out for her daughter and she always listens when I am down or having bad flareups of the polymyalgia.) I hugged her and said "Oh no, Ann, you and I are going to get to heaven by pure grace. That is what your name means and part of my name too." I walked her back to the door of the funeral home and then left in my car. On the way home I was praying and asking the Lord to take good care of my Annie when suddenly a motorcycle roared past me. The license plate read "ANNI". One minute later a car passed me and pulled in front of me. The plate read GRACE. A few minutes later I got off the highway and directly in front of me was a red convertible and the plate read BBLESSD. No way is this a coincidence! What are the odds? This was a definite "God Grin".

Thank you , Lord for loving my Annie so much. Console her in her grief and flood her with your tender Love. I place her trustingly into your hands.

Wake up!

" For Zion's sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet..."

Isaiah 62:1

"When I raised up watchmen for them:

'Hearken to the sound of the trumpet!'

They said, 'We will not hearken.' "

Wake up, America! Take a look around you! Can you not see the signs of the times? How long? How long before you open your eyes and see?

A Last Warning

Give ear, listen humbly

for the Lord speaks

Give glory to the Lord, your God

before it grows dark;

Before the light you look for turns to darkness,

changes into black clouds

If you do not listen to this in your pride,

I will weep in secret many tears;

My eyes will run with tears

for the Lord's flock, led away to exile."

Jer. 13:15-17

I surrender, Lord. I want to write one thing, you want me to write something different. You win.

Fisherman? Or fisher of men?

One night this summer Randy went fishing. When he returned I could not believe the story that he told me. Very strange indeed. Here is his story:

On any given day you can find me at one of my fishing spots. On this particular day, I chose a river close by. When I fish, I draw close to God and am filled with peace. I use this time for prayer, usually intercessory prayer. I drove down to my spot, parked, passed a small building, crossed the railroad tracks and walked down a steep embankment. I had 2 hours to fish. The first hour and a half was filled with Hail Mary's for everyone. The last half hour was prayed fervently for, "1 fish please Holy Mother of God. Just one." When I had no luck hooking one, I headed back up the embankment, crossed the tracks, and leaning on the side of a small building was my fish. A man called out to me,  "Hey! Did you catch anything." I walked over and we started talking. His name was Gregory and he was homeless. I could sense his anxiety and fear and I believe he was mentally ill. He was paranoid and confused and started telling me about his life. He went on and on . He spoke about being separated from his family and friends because he did not " fit in". I asked if he believed in God, if he knew Jesus. He said that he did but did not know much about Him. I spoke about the Lord for a while. I told him if he trusted Jesus, that He would send Him a sign of reassurance. As we spoke, a big white Cadillac with silver trim pulled up to the dead end street, a large man stepped out, raised a trumpet to his lips and blasted out a beautiful tune. After finishing this one song, he jumped back into his car and drove away. I was, to say the least, flabbergasted at what I had just witnessed. It was like an episode out of the twilight zone. NaNaNaNaNaNa. When I asked Gregory if he had heard it, he said yeah that the trumpet player had been in the area. But then again he had named "others" that were in the area. Remember, I had been there for two hours and no one was to be seen. This is a deserted area . When I went home and told this story to Mary, she was amazed and thought it was bizarre.

Mary's note:
When Randy came home and told me about this I thought it was the oddest story I had ever heard. It was the trumpet player that threw me for a loop. I said to Randy,"Maybe you were entertaining an angel unawares." He said, " Trust me, Gregory was no angel!" When I mentioned what had happened to my mother she said, "That's interesting, we ask for St. Gregory's intercession before choir practice each week; he's the patron saint of music."
I still don't know what to make of this story. Why would somebody drive down a road, step out, play one song on a trumpet and then leave. Strange..... very strange.

Randy's conversion story

http://fiat-themysticalrose.blogspot.com/2009/08/randy.html

" Prepare the Way "

After much prayer and thought, I have decided to write this. A couple of months ago, my mother received a "word". The "word" was "Prepare the way". Usually, I get an instant confirmation in the spirit when she gets these. This time, I did not.

That night when I went to bed, I had three dreams:
In the first dream, my mother (I believe this is symbolic of Mother Church) was holding something in her hands and singing the song "Prepare the way". I woke up with a start and heard these words in my head, "Confirm this to your mother." I said, " Lord, I don't know what she was holding in her hands." The Lord spelled out, V-E-L-L-U-M, in my head. So I said, "O.K., Lord, I will tell her." I figured I could just Google VELLUM the next day.
I went back to sleep and had a second dream. In this dream, my mother was holding a pillar and again singing, "Prepare the way". I woke up and heard, "Confirm this to your mother."
I went back to sleep and had a third dream; In this one, my mother was walking down the center aisle of a church. She was holding a banner and again singing, "Prepare the way". I woke up and heard, "Confirm this to your mother." I told Him I would.

The next day I googled the word VELLUM. Vellum is a parchment made out of calf or lambskin. I also confirmed my mothers word.

A couple months later, on a Friday, I was at Mass listening to the Gospel reading. When the priest spoke these words ,"Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom", I felt like a bolt of electricity had struck my body. Why? I don't know. Why the dreams? I don't know.

Thy will be done, Lord.

The cleaners are taking over!

I clean for a living. Offices, stores, a church (this is my parish and I would do it for free but our priest insists on paying us) and other jobs. People often ask me why I do this. I don't have to clean. My husband thinks I should do something else because of the polymyalgia. Here's the thing: I like to clean. It is honest and humble work and it pleases the Lord that I should do this. When I clean, I unite my physical cleaning with the Lord's cleaning of souls. He has shown both my mother and I what a grace this is. I clean with Jesus. When people say to me,"Ugh! How can you stand doing this kind of work?" I think, "Wow! How can I not love it."

This is true of any work done for love of Him. More is accomplished on a spiritual level by abandoning ourselves to Him than all that is done on a worldly level without Him. All of those who live for the Lord do more than the president and his entire cabinet do. We are the Lord's cabinet.

Move over President Obama - the cleaners are taking over!


Utterly Thine, O Lord!

Say hello

One day, while my husband was out fishing, two men walked up to him. They greeted him and then asked him,"Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior?" Randy told them yes, he had. So, they started chatting with him. One of the men asked, "What about your wife?" Randy said,  "Yep, she's Catholic." (This was before Randy entered the Church.) The two men looked shocked. One of them exclaimed,"You do know she's going to hell, don't you?!!" My husband is not one to mince words. Poker faced, he looked at them and replied, "Well then....make sure y'all say hi!"